A trio of Antarctic climate variability and meteorology studies

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This presentation will give an overview of three distinct, but connected, studies completed at the University of Canterbury within my group. The first focuses on stratosphere-troposphere (ST) coupling in the Southern hemisphere and examines CMIP5 models relative to reanalyses to examine whether various properties of the model, such as model top and representation of stratospheric ozone depletion, have an impact on the quality of the model representation of ST coupling. This study then compares runs from the NIWA -UKCA model which include changes in both greenhouse gases and ozone depleting substances and ones which maintain ozone depleting substances at the 1960 level. The second study describes an initial analysis of data from the WindSat satellite aimed at deriving an integrated view of the response of the atmosphere over a range of variables to anomalies in the Southern Annular Mode. This is potentially useful as WindSat observations are only currently assimilated into the NCEP CFSR reanalyses product and therefore provide an independent analysis from other widely used renalyses. The WindSat data is then also shown to be useful in the study of cyclones (via simple cyclone tracking) and a range of cyclone composites are compared to previous work. The final piece of work presented will examine the impact of the Amundsen Bellinghausen Sea Low on the surface meteorology observed above the Ross Ice Shelf and portions of the Ross Sea. In particular, this study suggests that the depth, longitude and latitude of the low are important in modulating the meteorology in this region, principally by variations in the frequency of specific weather patterns. If time permits, I will also discuss an upcoming project which expands on the final study described.